Baylor Granted $1.5 Million for Sleep Deprivation Study

...probably have days when you just can't kick your brain into gear. (My air conditioning went out last night and I didn't get a wink of sleep, so I'm definitely having one of those days today.)

Now imagine that you're flying on 30 seconds of sleep while trying to grasp advanced scientific and engineering concepts in order to earn your degree. Not fun.

Baylor University wants to study the effects of sleep deprivation on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning and creativity, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is set to grant them $1.5 million dollars to do it.

"More than half of all college students are habitually sleep deprived," reads the NSF project abstract. "Sleep deprivation is known to have powerful, detrimental effects generally on brain functioning, yet the extent of its specific effects on mental activity is unknown."

The project will dive into that unknown, bringing together sleep scientists, educators, cognitive neuroscientists, and statisticians to empirically investigate the interplay of sleep, creativity, and learning outcomes.

Technology is rapidly advancing, and it's more important than ever that American students lead in innovation and research. Personally, I'm glad this topic is the subject of serious study, and it's cool to see it'll be happening right here in Central Texas.

(BTW, Baylor - if y'all need anyone to volunteer to take naps for you, I'm your guy. I could use the rest.)